3:30 am is sooo early!

Posted on July 11, 2016July 11, 2016 by Dusty Roads

Thursday morning it was time to rock and roll. Get out of bed, get moving. It was time to head to Marshfield MA where I would meet up with the Audubon Society for a tour of Maine’s Peatlands culminating in the PUFFINS of Machias Seal Island!

By 5 AM we were loaded into the Audubon van and headed to Ipswich River Sanctuary where we hooked up with another van. Altogether there were two leaders, Scott and Sue and 12 participants.

For the most part these are hard core Birders so I was about to be introduced to a whole new way of looking at birds. We were still on the road at lunchtime so when a Subway came up we pulled in and made the clerk’s day. The poor girl was faced with 14 hungry travelers and she was working all alone.

After lunch we all piled back into the vans and soon we were entering blueberry country. Our Birding stop was the Blueberry Barrens.

Blueberry bush

The birders were looking for Upland Sandpiper, Vesper Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow to name just a few species.

UplandSandpiperOntarioCropped

We traveled on another long dirt road. It made me think of the time Sandy and I got twisted around on an Indian Reservation. We called it the “Longest dirt road in the world”. This one was a close 2nd.

Maine Dirt Road

The scenery was beautiful. The day had turned cool and damp and eventually it started to rain.

Maine

We stopped to check out a marsh with a beaver dam. The birders used powerful spotting scopes and saw all kinds of birds.

Beaver lodge

We finally arrived at our home away from home at about 5 pm. For the next 4 days we’d be staying at the Machias River Inn.

Dinner was at 6:30 at Helen’s Restaurant and then we wrapped up our day. We’d be up bright and early the next day. Breakfast was at 6 am!

Roaring Fork

Posted on June 5, 2014June 5, 2014 by Dusty Roads

The drive back from the Cataloochee was a challenge. At least I didn’t meet any cars as I wound my way back out the 11 + miles of twisty dirt roads. The GPS gets really mixed up in the mountains. At one point I was on a narrow paved road where the curves turned back on themselves so tightly that the GPS thought I’d stopped moving! But eventually I came out just above Gatlinburg. One minute I had no idea where I was and the next I was looking a the BBQ restaurant where I’d had dinner the night before! What a full day of adventure!

The next morning wasn’t quite as promising. Dark rain clouds were threatening and the weather report placed the possibility of rain at 60%. I decided to take advantage of the diffused lighting to look for some of the waterfalls in the area. Just outside of Gatlinburg center is the Roaring Fork area.

Take a left at the light near the Space Needle then a couple of blocks down you’ll find the sign for Roaring Fork on the right. Brace yourself. It’s another narrow, one lane road. Roaring Fork is known for gushing mountain streams, historic buildings and waterfalls. This is where you find the trailhead for the Trillium Gap Trail and Grotto Falls. The trail passes behind the falls and is said to be a fairly easy hike.

I drove the one-way Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail twice trying to find a place to park to get to the Trillium Gap trail but it was packed. The only parking was over 1/2 mile down a hill from the trailhead. Then you had a 1.5 mile hike to get to the falls. I was disappointed. I really wanted to visit Grotto Falls. Everyone talks about it which is probably why there were so many people there even with rain threatening. I just didn’t feel my back would hold up to the hike especially when you added on the extra distance just to get to the trail head from the parking spot. I had hoped visiting before the main tourist season and a rainy day would mean fewer people but apparently not.

That disappointment aside this is a great little road. The stream than follows the road or vice versa is lively and gives many opportunities for photos. It crisscrosses back and forth from left to right and back with little one lane bridges providing passage for the cars.

Near the end of the drive is a waterfall called Place of a Thousand Drips. This is known as a “wet weather” waterfall. During stormy weather this waterfall is said to be dramatic. Since it was only threatening to rain it had only moderate flow when I was there. Another visitor said the area had experienced a very dry spring as well. Even so, the Place of A Thousand Drips is a really nice waterfall.

The Most Twisted Dirt Road in the World

Posted on June 2, 2014June 2, 2014 by Dusty Roads

“They” all said it was quite the drive. “They” all said it would take a long time. Most encouraged me to skip this stop but it’s in the auto touring pamphlet…and “they” promised me ELK!

Do any of my readers remember my trip to South Dakota when my sister and I got lost on the Pine Ridge Reservation and drove the ” longest dirt road in the world”? Well that one was straight. I found it’s twisted cousin here in the Cataloochee. Actually a good portion of it was on the way into the valley.

The brochure describes the Cataloochee as a an “idyllic mountain valley “, off -the- beaten- path”, and lovely destination. I’ll add fun if you are adventurous.

The 11 mile dirt road is basically a one lane road that spends much of it’s 11 miles twisting back on itself. There are sharp corners with blind turns and pray you don’t meet a vehicle coming in the other direction. There’s no shoulder to speak of and very little room to pull over. I did meet a few cars and we mostly hugged the sides of the roads til we could squeak by. It was the longest 11 miles I’ve ever driven. More than once I wondered if I’d gone the wrong way but there really wasn’t any place to make a wrong turn.

Finally I found a gate and a small sign “Cataloochee”. But beyond the gate was , you guessed it. More dirt road. I’d come this far I. I wasn’t going to stop now so Onward!

Finally as I rounded a turn and slid (literally) down the dirt and gravel hill, the road dumped me out of the trees and into a big valley. Several historic buildings were bordering the road. I came to a one lane bridge with not 1 ranger but 3 all parked right at the bridge. I stopped and asked if I’d found the Cataloochee and where were the Elk?

I was assured that I was in the right place but that it was too early. I could cross the bridge and follow the road to the end where there was a trail head and a place to turn around. They said the elk would be around eventually as it got closer to sunset.

I wasn’t looking forward to driving out on that road in the dark but I wasn’t giving up either. I drove to the trail head and parked to wait.

Views Along the Newfound Gap Road

Posted on June 1, 2014June 1, 2014 by Dusty Roads

The views along this route are beautiful.

The forest floor was covered in wildflowers. The sky was so blue. Here are just a few more moments captured in time.

I know mountains like these…the mountains of the east. They are older than the Rockies or the Cascades but in some ways no less wild.

Maybe growing up in the middle of the Adirondacks gave me an appreciation for these forested slopes. Or maybe not, maybe they are something everyone appreciates. After all, the Great Smokey Mountain National Park is the most visited National Park of them all.

Tennessee to North Carolina

Posted on May 31, 2014May 31, 2014 by Dusty Roads

A new day and another bright blue sky! So far the weather has been wonderful. I pulled out the Auto touring maps and decided to try the Newfound Gap Road. Just like a cove is another name for a valley in the vernacular of southern Appalachia, a “gap” is a low point along a ridge or mountain range.

The old road over the Smokey Mountains was at Indian Gap. When a lower , easier crossing was discovered it became the “Newfound” gap. Starting in Gatlinburg you will climb approximately 3,000 feet passing through hardwood, pine-oak and finally the evergreen- spruce- fir forest at the Newfound gap (5,046 ft.)

Here on the Newfound Gap road it wasn’t wildlife that held your attention.

It was the mountains. The vastness, the climb, the view to the valley below.

At one of the many pull offs I marveled over the twists and turns of the road below me, the one I’d just traveled without a thought.

A large parking area, a observation platform, restrooms and an entrance to the Appalachian trail all straddle the Tennessee / North Carolina State line.

Leaving the parking area and Tennessee behind you have a chance to detour up to Clingman’s Dome.

Clingman’s Dome Road climbs about 7 miles to within 1/2 mile of the highest peak in the Smokies (6,643 ft.) There’s a large parking area and restrooms where you can leave you car to hike the last half mile to the top of Clingman’s Dome and the observation tower. Everybody sing “On top of Old Smokey”. 🙂

Once you leave Clingman’s dome and head back down whether to Cherokee in North Carolina or back to Gatlinburg in Tennessee, it’s literally all down hill.

I continued toward Cherokee. I figured I’d arrive there about lunchtime and could decide where to go next while I enjoyed my lunch.

That proved to be a good choice. I continued to read my Auto touring guide over a sandwich at a very nice restaurant right on the main road. The number 5 tour was the Cataloochee and from the looks of the map it might not be too far. AS I checked out and paid my bill I asked the cashier.

He told me it was still quite a hike out there and if I wanted to wait around I might see elk behind the high school right here in Cherokee. But if I was dead set on going to the Cataloochee all I had to do was follow Rt 19 through Maggie Valley to RT 278 and then watch for the signs. He suggested I get there between 5:30 and 7:30.

Seemed like a good idea to make the trip now since I was more than 1/2 way there already.